Chapter 986: Diarmuid’s Decision (Part One)
For a moment, Diarmuid hesitated. This wasn’t proper. The list of crimes that Ian Hanrahan had just been accused of had just grown explosively in length. To the trained inquisitor, each one would need to be documented and investigated. It wasn’t just important in order to hold the baron accountable for what sounded like a litany of abuses of his power as a lord, but to prevent others from escaping justice while the baron became a convenient scapegoat for other criminals.
And yet... Between the intense, bloodthirsty aura radiating off the woman sitting on the throne and the equally bloodthirsty and aggrieved mood of the common people gathered in the great hall, Diarmuid didn’t feel confident in asking for time to investigate all of these crimes. Doing so would only drag things on for months while he investigated, and if he was honest with himself, it would change nothing in the end.
It might, however, give an opportunity for the disgraced baron to rally some kind of support, to be freed from the dungeons where he would be kept while the investigations dragged on...
"So this is Lady Heila’s test," Diarmuid whispered to himself as he reached the crossroads of a decision. He could insist on the time to investigate, to do things the right way and see that justice was done. If he did so, it would draw an unmistakable line in the sand between the vampire knight who set herself upon a throne and the Church, making it clear that the Church would not bow down to her authority or her threats.
It would change nothing for Baron Hanrahan. Diarmuid was under no illusions that he could stop the powerful vampire from taking her cousin’s life if she wished to. Any objection that he made would be for the sake of protecting the Church, demonstrating its enduring moral authority and serving as what might be a final act of defiance against the demon conquest.
Or, he could endorse Dame Sybyll’s judgment now, and in doing so, provide a stamp of legitimacy to her rule from the Church. It would go far beyond a statement that Ian Hanrahan was guilty. It would be a heretical statement of the highest order that an Inquisitor of the Church could serve on a demon’s court and render judgment of the guilty on behalf of a demon.
"Dame Sybyll," Diarmuid said, standing up as straight and tall as he could as he addressed the woman on the throne. "What will you do once you have the list of crimes that Ian Hanrahan’s son’s provide? Will you post them in the town square for all to see?"
"No, I won’a do that," Sybyll said firmly. "His victims include women who may not be safe from their own husbands if it were ta’ be known tha’ me cousin had spoiled them," she explained. "But there’s restitution ta’ be made fer those who were wronged by him, an’ I’ll use those lists ta’ find his victims, one by one, an’ make them whole as best I can."
"Some things," she said solemnly. "Some things can never be made whole. No bag of gold is large enough ta’ make up fer what a man does ta’ a woman when he forces himself on her, an’ no amount of food t’day can make up for years spent sufferin’ an’ starvin’," she continued in a voice that carried incomparable sorrow and pain borne of her own years of suffering and struggle. "I can’a bring back tha’ missing an’ tha’ dead."
Her words hung over the crowd like a dark cloud, pierced by rays of light. Dame Sybyll didn’t pretend that everything could be made right again and she knew painfully well that some things, once they’d been broken, could never be fixed. She didn’t lie to her people, nor did she pretend that opening up the treasury and spilling out gold would make up for what her cousin had done.
But when she promised to do what she could, the people in the crowd didn’t hear the proclamation of a distant, imperious lord sitting on high. Even though she sat upon a gilded throne, they heard a woman who was one of them, who had suffered with them in the same ways they had, because of the same men... And despite that suffering, or perhaps because of it, she promised to do what she could.
Diarmuid had sat in judgment over many noblemen, from wayward knights to the sons of powerful counts, and he had known many lords who wielded the power of high justice. But in Dame Sybyll, perhaps for the first time, he found someone truly worthy of sitting on that throne. The thought shook him to his core, but if he set aside the fact of her vampiric nature, then he was left looking at a woman who defined the Church’s ideals in nearly every way.
Dame Sybyll had been given one hardship after another, and yet she met her struggle the way the Church said a lord must. She rose up above vengeance and sought justice. She waged war but pleaded for the weaker side to surrender instead of giving way to slaughter. She held a trial for the guilty instead of cleanly executing the man who had wronged her. And now, she had won the hearts of her people, not because of the name she was born with, but because she understood how they had suffered, and she promised to do what she could.
"You may not be able to make everyone whole," Diarmuid said in a voice that was filled with genuine respect. "But you intend to do everything that a lord should do when his people have been so badly wronged," Diarmuid said, turning away from Dame Sybyll to look briefly at Head Priest Germot and Loman Lothian.
Neither man looked happy with the Inquisitor though Loman seemed resigned to the way things were playing out. Germot, on the other hand, had his face set in a scowling mask of disapproval and he shook his head ever so slightly when he noticed Diarmuid looking his way.
Clearly, the Head Priest knew what Diarmuid was about to do and something about the look in his eyes promised trouble in the days to come if they all survived this night, but Diarmuid couldn’t bring himself to care. He made up his mind to protect people the instant he focused on healing acolytes in the gatehouse instead of rushing to unleash his flames on the demons and he reaffirmed that decision when he chose surrender instead of fighting to the bitter end.
Now, he made the same decision for a third time. To do what would preserve the most lives, whether it was the thing his superiors in the Church would have ordered him to do or not. The Holy Lord of Light had revealed ugly truths this night... now, Diarmuid put his faith in the Holy Lord above to continue illuminating his path forward, even if it led away from the Church he had known for most of his life.
"You do not need the blessing of the Inquisition on your judgment, Dame Sybyll," Diarmuid finally said after a long pause. "Nor can I give the Inquisition’s blessing to a demon, no matter how much you have been wronged by your cousin and his father."
"But if you ask for my verdict," Diarmuid continued as he addressed the crimson haired vampire. "Then I judge Ian Hanrahan guilty of magnicide. I am convinced that he knew that your mother was Baroness Caitlin and he had her killed in order to preserve his rule," he said firmly. "I’m further convinced that he is guilty of numerous high and low crimes against both his people and his liege lord," he added.
"HERETIC! BLASPHEMY!"
The words echoed across the hall like thunder, shouted by a red-faced Head Priest who had clearly reached the limit of what he could endure.
"You have made a mockery of everything the Inquisition stands for!" Germot shouted as he pointed a trembling finger at Inquisitor Diarmuid. "You have sold your soul to the demons to save your own life and you have stamped this farce of a trial with your seal in defiance of all that is holy!"
Spit flew from the older priest’s lips as he berated the Inquisitor on the dais and everyone sitting near him in the great hall moved quickly to the side, leaving the space around the golden-robed priest clear as he made his bold declaration.
"You have defiled the robes you wear, Diarmuid," Germot said as he strode forward to stand before the dais, coming as close to Loman Lothian as he dared. "And I. WILL. NOT. HAVE IT!"